


Scars

by Level4Chaos



Category: Sorcerous Stabber Orphen
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Magic-Users, Male Homosexuality, POV Third Person Omniscient, Psychic Abilities, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-18
Updated: 2014-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-12 03:37:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15986813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Level4Chaos/pseuds/Level4Chaos
Summary: Lai should never have looked into his own future. What he saw was a dream come true, but now that he knows, he has to stop himself from ruining it before it even happens.





	Scars

**Author's Note:**

> **WARNING:** This fanfic contains graphic homosexual sex scenes.
> 
>  **DISCLAIMER:** The characters and places in this fanfic are not mine! I assure you they will be returned to their rightful places in perfect condition - and I will have made no money from their adventures! This story is a work of fiction, and I acknowledge that I have taken uncountable liberties with the Orphen plot and characters' personalities / sexual persuasions. In no way do I mean the characters, or their creators, any harm or disrespect; I write this purely to show my love for the anime - nothing more, nothing less.
> 
>  **AUTHOR'S NOTES:** This is just a stupid little something I wrote after a discussion about this pairing. It was written waaay back in 2002.

Their lips met for a kiss... Passionate with the fire of a new love, yet already familiar with each other; there was no innocent hesitation as arms embraced and tongues entwined. They both wanted the same thing out of the night - hard, desperate love.

The dominant one wore his emerald hair short, while his slightly taller lover's scarlet locks were long - a striking contrast which looked beautiful together. He pushed his lover against the closed door, and began grinding his masculinity against him. The redhead moaned into the kiss, very willing to allow the knee pressing into him to part his legs so that he could rub himself against the other's thigh.

Hands, once so busy clutching at each other's back, blindly moved with the mutual agreement that _someone's_ clothes had to be removed - and fast. Converging between the bodies, they scrambled to undo whatever buttons, clips and clasps they could find hidden amongst the layers of heavy fabric enveloping them.

At last, a pair of pants was completely unfastened and quickly yanked down their owner's hips. The green-haired man doing the undressing followed their descent, kneeling before his prize - engorged and jutting out invitingly before him. He ran his hands up the creamy thighs, one resting there, the other curling around the base of his lover's hot erection; drawing inviting circles around his mouth with it as his tongue lashed out to tease the tip as it passed.

A gasp caught in the other man's throat, and his knees began to buckle as the loving mouth finally engulfed him. He cried out something, garbled by needs, his words served no other purpose than as a sound to show he was enjoying his current circumstance. He gripped the emerald strands bobbing back and forth before him, trying not to thrust back in return, as his body demanded he do.

He jammed his back hard against the wall, his head rolling from side to side in complete rapture as his cloaked lover's hands, tongue and lips brought him to climax. He could no longer hold back his body's need to whip forward and plant his seed deep in the throat of the man he obviously loved.

The green-haired man rose to his feet, wiping his chin with the back of his hand as he did, just in time to catch his lover as he collapsed against him. Caught off-balance, the pair managed an awkward waltz to stay upright for a precious few more seconds, before falling to the bed in a flutter of dark blue robes. The submissive one laughed as he hit the tapestry covers, his shoulder-length hair fanning out around his face like fiery sunbeams.

Lai moaned in appreciation at the sight, hunching over his crystal ball to get a better view. Hartia was so beautiful when he smiled.

"That was amazing..."  
" _You_ are amazing." Lai stroked the sorcerer's freckled face, making his smile even brighter. "You tasted even better than I remembered."  
Hartia blushed at the compliment, and unclipped the cloak from around the neck of the man straddling his waist. "Have you been completely naked under this all day?!"  
"Not _all_ day." Lai assured him with a devilish grin, which made his lover laugh.

"Why won't you let me heal that?"  
Lai caught his wrist as the sorcerer reached up and attempted to touch the small scar on his chest. "I like it... it reminds me of you, my knight in shining armour."

In the world outside the crystal ball, Lai pulled at the neckline of his robe, moving his pendant out of the way, and looked at the flawless skin beneath. A scar...?

"There are a great many other - _better_ \- things I could give you instead..." The redhead promised seductively, reaching out to curl his fingers around Lai's member, each stroke promising a special breed of ecstasy, which was delivered almost instantly.

A sorcerer's lover - something everyone secretly yearned, yet openly feared, to be. As Lai watched himself arching forward, on the verge of tears from the pleasure Hartia's glowing hand was drawing from him, he knew that he could never be anything _but_ a sorcerer's lover.

"Do you like it?" Hartia asked, cupping his other hand around the back of Lai's neck and guiding him down for a kiss that made the seer gasp as he watched it. Their faces were so close, foreheads all but melding together, as they breathed in the heated breath that the other expelled.  
"I _love_ it... and I love _you_."  
Their lips met for but a second before the sensual teasing began afresh. Hartia's tongue darted out, lashing Lai's lips, before retreating again. All the while, his hand continued to weave its spell on his lover's ever-growing hardness between them. When Lai attempted to complete the kiss, Hartia drew back into the pillow beneath him, finally forcing the psychic to capture his face and hold him still.

His fingertips pushed through the mass of scarlet hair into the back of Hartia's head, his thumbs resting high on the sorcerer's cheekbones, just in front of his ears. He planted several small kisses, soft and delicate, on the awaiting lips, before bowing his head and initiating the deepest kiss he could. Gentle like the others at first, he took his time to suckle on the softness of Hartia's bottom lip; licking it, savouring his sweet taste; before plundering his mouth with his tongue. His lover's tongue sprung to life to defend against the onslaught, and the pair danced together, whilst lips locked together and sealed their cavern.

They would have kissed forever, but the mortal need for air was far stronger than that for pleasure. Breaking away, they stared at each other in awe with half-lidded eyes. Hartia relinquished his hold on Lai's penis, having aroused him to his limit without finishing him off. The psychic moaned as he crawled off his lover, not only for the loss of the touch, but in anticipation for what he was to do with his unsatisfied need.

Unfastening the row of tiny clips down the front of Hartia's coat, Lai bared the sorcerer's soft, freckled skin; running an appreciative hand over his chest. His pants were already undone, bunched around his thighs, and Lai relieved him of them completely.

No more waiting or teasing, the time for that was over. They both seemed to understand that the other wanted to make love and be made love to just as much as they did, and any further stalling would do more harm than good.

In an act that had obviously been determined several sessions ago, Hartia arched his back and spread his legs wide, presenting Lai with a perfect view of his aroused body. Lai gasped, both in the present and the future.

Reaching for the clay jar on his bedside table, the psychic dipped his fingers into the pungent rose oil. It had been a gift... to keep his lanterns burning brightly in the distant winter months. He had not used any of it for _that_ purpose, yet the oil's level was obviously lower than it was in the present. Not much, but enough to tell him this was definitely not the first time the pair had done this.

His oily fore and middle fingers sought between pale legs, probing to depths which made the sorcerer writhe.  
"Ah!" Hartia almost choked on his moan as his fists balled into the sheets beneath him. "Lai, please..."  
"Soon, my love, soon." He promised, wiping the sweat from his lover's furrowed brow, while his other hand's eager digits wriggled and stretched the entrance to his tight little passage.

In the present, Lai wanted to slap himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming - to break apart the dangerous merge of vision and fantasy. But what he saw was very real... so unbelievable, it could very well have been one of his fantasies - but not today. Today his years of hoping for the day Hartia would be his ended. Dreams are over when they come true.

Hartia's mouth was open in silent ecstasy as the bodies moved against each other. Lai was inside him, penetrating him gentle enough to show his adoration, but hard enough that his lover would not ever want for any more. Satin sheets twisted around the pair as the moonlight shone through the large window of the room Lai knew so well. The delicate lips of the red-haired beauty murmured his lover's name over and over.

Pale legs wrapped around the dominant of the two's waist; his fingernails clawing into his lover's back; he threw his head back and let out a howl.  
"Lai!" By the gods, it was the sweetest thing he had ever heard - his own name cried out so passionately. "Oh... Lai!"

It was indeed a beautiful image. One he had not intended to look upon, but curiosity had got the better of him and he found himself seeking out the future of his dear friend. If the Elders ever found out he had used his gift for anything other than what they had explicitly ordered, he would be severely reprimanded.

"How?" He gritted his teeth and tired to concentrate, but having to stare at his future self making love to his friend as he did so was enough to make him lose his purpose in thoughts of how soft Hartia's flesh would be to touch like that.

It was not as if their relationship was _that_ strong. Grabbing Hartia for a passionate tumble in his bedroom one night was certainly not the next progressive step in their friendship. So, _how_...? How was it going to happen? Lai had never made a mistake with his visions. As far-fetched as this one seemed, it would come to pass. It _had_ to.

"When?" He gasped, flushed and sweaty, running his hands over the smooth crystal. His quarters had not changed in all the years he had lived in the Tower, so it was hard to pinpoint how far into the future it could possibly be.

It was going to be _sometime_ within the next few years... that much he could easily divine from the image alone. They were still young, but the robes they had worn were of a _much_ higher rank than they both were currently. As soon as his mind dared to dabble with questions of the sequence of events leading to them being promoted to levels he would never have imagined them obtaining until they were both at least middle-aged, a searing pain shot through his skull.

Gripping his forehead, he murmured an apology. It was not his place to know. _It is not your place to know **any** of what you have just witnessed_ , his conscience corrected.

He tore himself away from the crystal ball as his future self withdrew and flipped his lover onto his stomach - preparing to take him again. He could not deny that he was curious to know just how long the heated session was going to last, but he was already late for his reports to the Elders - and he would eventually know the answer anyway, when he was _part_ of the session.

"Enough." He commanded, and with a wave of his hand, the ball ceased its taunting visions of Hartia on all-fours, reflecting only the hand that cradled it. He secured his chambers and headed down the corridor, thinking about anything other than what he had seen, in the hope his painfully obvious erection would settle down before he arrived at his destination. 

As he passed the library, he felt tingles. Casting a casual look into the doorway, the room appeared to be deserted, but Lai knew better. The otherwise perfectly stacked shelf at the far end of the room was missing a book - a volume of _The Black Tiger_ , no doubt. And its reader would be huddled in a corner nearby, so engrossed in the ridiculous story of truth and justice that it would seem to all the world that it was the most important book - _comic book_ \- ever written. Lai smirked at the thought. It was cute that a grown man could still be reduced to a screaming fanboy by the mention of a scythe-wielding hero in a mask and flowing cloak. 

Having contact with the person whose future he was looking into would often make his visions more powerful, so he would just go in and say a friendly "Hello" and be on his way. He smiled at the thoughts of how lurid his visions would be later that night. Passing the shelf, he noted that _The Black Tiger - Volume Two_ had indeed been taken. 

"Hartia?" 

There was no answer. 

_He's probably up to a good bit._ Lai chuckled to himself, trying to remember the last time he had even touched one of those books. And then he felt it - immense sadness. It struck him like a slap across the back of his head... this overwhelming sorrow. 

"Hartia!" 

The crumpled form of the one he sought was slumped over the reading table, his head resting on his crossed arms in front of him. His elbow pinned _The Black Tiger_ beneath it, open on a very emotional-looking page. Lai cast a quick glance at it... Volume Two, the one where Black Tiger questions his relationship with his best friend after an argument... Hartia was crying; his slight shoulders shook with the tremor of his sobs. 

"Hartia! What's wrong?!" Lai set his crystal ball down on the table, haphazardly placing nearby candlesticks around it to prevent it from rolling away. 

Upon noticing he was not alone, the redhead snatched the book from the table and slammed it shut, hugging the front cover to his chest with one hand and hurriedly wiping his face with the other. "Nothing."  
"Don't give me _that_." It was difficult to look at him, so pitiful and fragile, and not think of the moment reflected in the crystal ball. 

There was an awkward silence as the sorcerer decided whether to answer the initial question or not. How could he sum up the disastrous events of the previous night? There weren't words enough for him to express how confused and hurt he was. 

"He hates me, Lai..." 

The seer put a comforting hand on the other man's shoulder. At once, there was a flash of a scene... recently passed. Orphen was there, yelling terrible things - to go away, to never show his face again. The feeling of complete and utter heartbreak shot through Lai's veins - tearing open deep wounds that could never be healed. The seer frowned at the thought. How could the rebel sorcerer be so cruel? 

"Krylancelo hates me." Hartia's sad eyes were cast downward, as his long slender fingers stroked the back cover of the book in his arms. "I was only trying to help him... And now he hates me for it."  
Lai swallowed. Black Tiger would never know how lucky he was to be caressed like that. "Everything will be all right. Your friendship means a lot to him, but his judgement is clouded by his sense of duty right now. Just give him some time to cool off... and you _will_ see him again. Trust me - I _know_."  
"Thank you, Lai." Hartia forced a smile. "I wouldn't have believed it if anyone else had told me that." 

He rose to stand, biting his lip to curb his tears. Lai could make all the promises he wanted to, but the way Orphen had yelled at him; the look of disgust in his eyes... he could not just forget it in the hope that their friendship would be solid again once Orphen's one-man crusade was over.  
It still stung... more than any magical attack. Physical damage could easily be numbed with the right herbs or spell; Orphen's words had torn at his very soul. Tremors ran through is body, and his hand shook uncontrollably as he raised it to his face in an attempt to subdue the choked sob that rose from his throat. 

"Hartia...?"  
"It hurts so much! I was only... I was only trying to help..."  
Lai's arms were instantly around him. The embrace was accepted and returned as Hartia cried into the comforting shoulder of the only friend he had left.  
"You need to get some rest..." The psychic soothed, running his hands up and down the other's back. "I promise you, everything will be all right..."  
Hartia sniffled. "I know, but..."  
"But, nothing." 

It was so perfect. The feeling of the warm body pressed so tightly against him was so overwhelming that he had not noticed the sharp dragon wings on his pendant cutting into his chest, not even when a small metallic shriek arose as Hartia's identical necklace ground against it. All he could feel was that firm torso heaving against his with Hartia's every breath; that beautiful face buried in the crook of his neck as silky red hair draped over his shoulder; those elegant arms encircling him; and the soft bulge of Hartia's masculinity so very close to his own, daring to brush against it with his more violent sobs. 

He reached a hand up, keeping the other firmly on the small of Hartia's back, to stroke his hair; daring to twirl several rogue strands into a loose ringlet around his forefinger. The Tower's second-best sorcerer leaned into the caress, growing calmer and eventually stopping his crying altogether. Orphen's angry outburst did not seem so bad anymore... Lai still cared for him, despite the mess he had made of things. 

"I'm sorry..." He whispered, raising his head and inspecting the dark patch his tears had left on Lai's shoulder. "I don't know what's wrong with me."  
Lai subconsciously tightened his embrace, worried that his perfect moment would end if he let Hartia go. "It's all right. I saw what Krylancelo did to you, and you have every right to be upset."  
"Thank you." The redhead smiled, no matter how small it was, it was still a genuine smile. His cheek brushed along Lai's as he began to move away, and he seemed to pause for a moment, as if appreciating the feeling of their closeness. And just a quickly, he began to slip from the seer's grasp. 

"Hartia." 

_I mustn't let my vision of the future decide how to act in the present. What I see is not carved in stone... and the future can - and **will** \- change if present events are altered in any way._  
_Do I risk it? Did our romance begin here in the library, with a single kiss? It seems so right... and yet I hesitate? He's so vulnerable at the moment; I don't want to take advantage of him. I know how much he loved - and still loves - Krylancelo, but if I do not do something now, I may lose him forever..._

"Yes?" 

_When he looks at me like that..._

Lai tilted his head ever so slightly, and touched the sorcerer's lips with his own in a feather-light kiss. He felt Hartia's entire body tense up, and realised it was a mistake. 

Hartia pulled away, his eyes brimming with confusion.  
"Please, don't." He warned warily, turning on his heel and awkwardly hurrying away.  
Lai stood motionless. _I chose wrong..._ All he could do was watch as the man he had wanted for so long shove the book back into its place on the shelf and disappear behind the bookcases that obscured the view of him leaving. 

_I'm such an idiot! I should never have looked into his future! I've ruined everything!_

"Hartia, wait!" Grabbing his crystal ball, he gave chase, running as fast as his robes would let him, into the empty corridor. "Hartia!" 

* * * * *

The redhead stared out the window of his bedchamber at the empty courtyard several stories below, running his fingers over his lips as if trying to recreate the touch of Lai's kiss.  
"I don't know why I ran away like that..." He thought aloud.

_I mean, Lai has always been weird... I guess it's because he spends all day locked in a tiny room avoiding the present so he can concentrate on the future. It would send me crazy, too!_  
_But why did I run away from him? He's done stranger things than kiss me before. Yesterday he tackled me to the ground and sat on me for no other reason than to warn me about what I already knew - and he would **know** that I already knew it; and he would **know** that I would do it anyway-_

He shook his head. "I'm just confusing myself now."  
But he had to admit, if he had not been so angry about being told what to do, he probably would have enjoyed being pinned under the handsome psychic.

_I should really go back and apologise._

* * * * *

Lai's gift of foresight was blurred in his frustration. He looked to the left, where the corridor met a candlelit T-junction several metres away, and then to the right, where the hall continued far off into darkness. Hastily choosing the right (for no other reason than it looked like the way someone might go if they were trying to hide), he slammed into the unseen body of another, hidden in the shadows.

"You're late with your report on Azalie." The smarmy sneer of the Elders' prodigy stopped Lai in his tracks. "I thought you were better than that."  
He ignored the insult, trying to look down the hall over the blonde's shoulder. "Have you seen Hartia?"  
"Hmmm..." Flameheart dramatically feigned thought for a moment, his eyes locking on to the bloodstained fabric beneath Lai's pendant. "No."  
The seer swore under his breath.

"What do you want _him_ for? I'm ten times the sorcerer he could ever hope to be, so if you're looking for someone to heal that wound of yours..."  
"What?" Before Lai could look down, Flameheart had already reached out his hand and conjured a healing spell on his chest. 

He was not gentle, and the spell hurt more than the injury had - Lai had not even noticed it until then. "It looks nasty, and I certainly wouldn't want a pretty thing like you to be scarred by Hartia's incompetence."

Scarred?!

_"Why won't you let me heal that?"_

_"I like it... it reminds me of you, my knight in shining armour."_

His future was falling down around him.

"Stop it!"  
"What is there to stop? You're all better now." The blonde smiled, but his triangular face was incapable of looking friendly, no matter what expression he might try putting on it. He held his arm out, as if waiting for Lai to link elbows with him. "I'm on my way to the Elders too, shall we go together?"

"Thank you," Lai pulled the hood of his robe further down over his face, hiding his teary eyes in shadows. "But I would rather go alone..."  
He moved to walk around the sorcerer, but Flameheart was quick to turn, backing him up against the wall, and pinning him there with rough hands on his shoulders.  
"Where are your manners, _Lai_?" He dragged the name out, almost as if he were making fun of it. "I heal you, and you won't even walk with me?"  
"I never asked you to heal me. Let go!" He demanded, hugging his crystal ball to his stomach, not only to protect it, but to stop Flameheart getting any closer to him.

Cruel fingers were digging into him, causing him to wince. “Please?”

Lai’s voice sounded so small and pathetic to his own ears. Had he not just done the same thing to Hartia, and now, in his position, was begging for it to stop? No, this was different… this was _sinister_.

”What do you see, Lai?” Another taunt; the blonde revelling in the smaller man’s terror.

_I see nothing…_

The half-light of the distant candles snuffed into complete blackness. Flameheart looked around, seeing nothing other than Lai in front of him.  
"I know this spell..." He murmured to himself, thinking back to when and where he had seen it, and what it actually did after its initial plunge into darkness.

A spinning crescent of blood-red energy, appeared out of nowhere, striking the evil sorcerer in the back. No sooner had he released his victim to retaliate, several more converged upon him.  
"Show yourself, Hartia, you coward!" He dared, recognising the style of spell and was able to block it with a single wave of his arm, scattering the glowing sickles across the seemingly endless battlefield. "I'll kick your sorry ass so hard, Lai won't be able to fuck you for a week!"

The seer blushed under his hood, but the derogative threat only made Hartia angrier. Cloaked in the darkness of his spell, he pelted his opponent with his trademark Catherine wheels, all of which were cast back in all directions by Flameheart's impressive defence - most falling to the floor and fizzling into nothing.

Lai cried out in pain, dropping to his knees and clutching at his chest. He did not possess any magic, and could not defend against it. Hartia did not know if Flameheart had directed the ricochet of his attack toward the handsome, green-haired psychic on purpose, but it got his desired result nonetheless. The candlelit corridor returned to sight, with his target standing but a few steps away.

"Lai!" Hartia took a step toward his friend, but was stopped from getting any closer as Flameheart rushed behind him, grabbing him by the shoulder and charging a glowing attack from his splayed fingers.

"What is going on here?"  
The trio looked around at the fourth voice; Flameheart instantly dropped his hand to his side, Hartia hid his hands behind his back, and Lai quickly rose to his feet, holding his crystal ball in front of the tear in his robe, hoping it would magnify the fabric remaining behind it and not the wound.  
"Well? I'm waiting." The Elder folded his arms, unimpressed by their ridiculous show of pretend innocence.  
Hartia took a breath to answer, but Flameheart cut him off. "It was nothing to warrant such a stern expression, I assure you. Just a bit of fun."  
"Hartia, your master will hear about this. And so will your mother, Flameheart." He turned to leave. "We will be expecting the arrival of your report in no more than ten minutes, Lai."

The blonde jogged to catch up with the cloaked figure as he walked away, his begging and pleading finally turning into mumbled echoes far down the corridor. "Surely, she need not know..."

"I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to hit _you_." Hartia went to touch Lai's wound. "Let me undo my mistake."  
"No! I'll be fine." Lai moved the hand away from him. He had been given a second chance to follow the course of his scarred self's fragile destiny. With every throb of pain in his chest, new hope flourished. "I'm sorry for everything. I don't want Childman to punish you for protecting me."  
"Don't worry about it. He's so distant at the moment... I doubt he will even care."  
"And I'm sorry for..." He trailed off. "...kissing... you... earlier."

Hartia bit his lip, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. He had been absolutely distraught after his encounter with Orphen; but the way Lai had held him, whispered comforting words to him... His sweet kiss had been the perfect end to his counsel - exactly what Hartia needed, short of a slap across the face, to snap him out of his depression.

He had put Orphen's half-hearted friendship before Lai's constant love and support, preferring to run away than accept that he had to move on; that the childhood memories he had of Orphen were just that - _memories_ \- and he could not revisit those happier times, no matter how much he wished to.

"I didn't realise you felt that way about me." He finally replied, keeping his voice as mild, yet emotionless, as he could.  
"I shouldn't have broken it to you like _that_." Lai gave a wary smile. "...You're not angry with me?"  
"I..." _Maybe._ "I don't know..." _You shocked the hell out of me._ "I need time to think about it." _Perhaps under different circumstances, we could be happy together..._  
The psychic nodded. "The Elders are waiting. I'll see you later..."

He kept his eyes trained on the pretty redhead as he turned, casting him one final glance over his shoulder, before heading off into the darkness, smiling as he touched the blood caked to his robe.

_So,_ **how**...?  
How was it going to happen?  
Lai had never made a mistake with his visions.  
As far-fetched as this one seemed, it would come to pass. 

_It **had** to._


End file.
